Profitable Growth is Everyone’s Business, a great book written by Ram Charan, has a key section that gives a fitting name to the best business building strategy I know. It has become a mantra we continually preach to our clients and is at the core of what DIG is all about. Certainly worthy of a Brickyard brick I would say.

“Focus on Hitting Singles and Doubles”

The .com age and the stories that continue to get media coverage continuoulsy push the business community to focus way too much on the home run. Business owners will put their businesses in peril trying to find the Million/Billion dollar idea. Enormous time, energy and money is spent on this misdirected focus. Big, BIG mistake. How can you enjoy the every day of running your business if your success rests on the rare occurrence of “hitting the home run?”

As Mr. Charan so perfectly puts it…

“Home runs don’t happen every day or even every decade…

A surer and more consistent path – one that does not exclude home runs – is what I call going for “singles and doubles,” growth based on improvements or natural extensions of the strategy, business model, customer needs, or technology of a business….Singles and doubles come from disciplined, creative and innovative in-depth analyses of all the fundamentals of a business, including new ways of identifying undermet or unmet customer needs and meeting them through improved internal alignment of the company…

Singles and doubles do not come from a look in the rearview mirror. Rather, they are a result of looking at the business from the outside-in, from customer needs backward into the company. In fact, they form the foundation for the home run.”

As we always say here … we aim to utterly eliminate whatever it is that hinders your right as a business owner to enjoy your position properly. Life is short.

Having the patience to hit “Singles & Doubles” dramatically changes your ability to enjoy the ride. One of them may turn into a home run, but if it doesn’t you are still safely in the lead. (yes..I know, too many sports metaphors)